Why is beavers so late?

[TwentyTwenty20]

I'd love to put my son in beavers but it's from 6:00 until 7:15. By the times he's got home, had a bath, had a bedtime story and wound down and actually fallen asleep it'd be 8:15/8:30. Feels quite late for a 5 year old who is usually in bed by 7. Does this feel a bit late or is this the norm for beavers? Anyone else's kids cope OK? He has to be up for 6 so would only get around 9.5 hours sleep. He usually gets 11+

Why does he get up at 6?

Does he need a bath every night?

It’s very normal, adult leaders likely have jobs during the day. Even 6 is early for a volunteer role after work.

Our Beavers is 6 till 7pm. We did look at starting at 5.30pm but none of the leaders could guarantee to be there that early on a working day.

It may be availability of leaders or the availability of the hall particularly if it's shared with others (not in the scout group). Our beavers are earlier in the evening 5.30 - 6.45 and cubs start at 7 on the same night.

Totally normal - working parents need to get there and the volunteers also will have day jobs.

Does he need a bath when he gets in?

That's normal for beavers. It's fine for one night a week. He'll be there until he's 8.

My sons beavers is 5.15 to 6.30.

why is he up so early?

I thought Beavers started at age 6? Just skip the bath. The problem here is him having to be up at 6am.

I guess it’s so people can pick up their children after work, feed them then get them to the venue. It was too late for us, DS didn’t finish until 7.30 which was his normal bedtime, and by the time he’d got home, had a snack and calmed down enough to sleep it would be 9pm at the earliest and he’d be really tired the next day at school.

Probably because the volunteers running it have their own day jobs/kids they need to sort before they’re available. But beavers are normally 6-8 years old aren’t they? There’s a big difference between what a 7/8YO can handle versus a 5YO. If the 6am wake up is fixed because you need that time to get ready, get to breakfast club etc. and he also needs 11 hours sleep then I would personally wait a year before you start him.

Laughing at the 'why is he up so early' comments

Take a guess!

That seems a normal time, assuming volunteers have to get there after work. Kids don't need a bath every night, and I don't understand why he has to be up at 6?

Beavers in our group is 5-6pm and Cubs is afterwards 6:30-8pm on a Tuesday Night. Parents aren't always happy with us when we have activities away from the hut or change the times, but we are a small team of volunteers trying to do our best for all three of our sections.

Can he have a quick shower the following morning instead of a bath after beavers. Ours used to offer 3x trial sessions so if yours offers similar you could do 3 weeks and see if he enjoys it and copes with the later night?

I'd skip the bath. My DS is 5 and on Tuesdays we have to take his sister to volleyball which means we don't get home until about 7, then cook and eat dinner which means he doesn't get to bed until at least 8, usually closer to 9 (and then tends to read for a bit before sleeping anyway), and has to be up at 6 as well. If he needed more sleep than that I'd cut out anything extra in the evening (in his case screen time for a bit after dinner) but he copes alright with that amount of sleep.

Our beavers is from age 6, not 5. My 6 year old goes to bed at 8 normally anyway so the timing (6-7.15) isn't a problem for us.

Our beavers is 6-7
We do beavers then straight home, pjs/teeth, stories/reading sleep
My kids have always got up at 6 (no matter how hard I try to make them stay in bed later), they have adjusted as they have more things in the evening. Our 7yo has swimming at 6 too now on another night and that's way more physically exhausting than beavers, hated it at first, now settled in and he's fine.

You have to accept that groups run by volunteers are going to work to times convenient to them.
Plenty of kids manage this and get used to it although it can be a struggle at first.

Have you checked whether there are spaces or a waiting list. if the latter then it may be another 6 months or so before he gets in.
Beavers does usually start at age 6 but there's flexibility for joining at 5 3/4. However, if there's a waiting list then it's likely that they will be older than 6.

Beavers don't usually take kids until they are 6 partly for this reason.

Agree with pp that if it’s that much of an issue for you, you should wait another year or so before he starts. By then he’ll be able to handle a bit of a later bedtime. Oh, and skip the bath.

Beavers isn’t age 6, by which point most children are capable of being at an activity 6-7pm.

My son gets home for 7:15pm and then it’s quick story and bed for 7:30. We don’t do bath on Beavers evening.

Our squirrels and beavers is 7pm to 8pm. Volunteers work, then have to get home and back out again, plus lots of parents work

Some of the kids will be in after school clubs until 5:30 so probably can’t get there any earlier and the volunteers no doubt have day jobs so can’t do it earlier. Doesn’t seem particularly late for that age.

My kids don’t do beavers. But we have dance until 7.45 and gymnastics until 7.30. They don’t have baths or read stories on those nights. We get in, PJs on and straight to bed with no messing